On his weekly radio show Tuesday morning, Jones talked fondly of Modell, who helped launch Monday Night Football and was part of various other major contributions to the NFL.

"He was such a great story teller," Jones said on KRLD-FM Tuesday morning as his plane landed in the Baltimore-area. "He really kept meetings, more often than not, that became very tense, very contentious, he kept those meetings moving with some of his great one-liners. It was just a natural thing. He should have been a Bob Hope in another time. He had that about him.

"From the get go, understood the potential of our game, the NFL on television. He made a serious contribution during those years in the fledgling years of the NFL of becoming Monday Night Football and some of the dynamics of what we did on Sunday afternoon and some of the programming decisions. He was quite a contributor. He was well thought of. I thought a lot of him. He was always good to me."

Modell owned the Browns from 1961 to 1995 and the Ravens from 1996 to 2003.

A moment of silence was conducted to honor Modell prior to the Baltimore Ravens-Cincinnati Bengals game on Monday night. Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, who visited Modell in the hospital before he died, wrote his initials on his eye black.

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